This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Browner, C. H. Articles by Preloran, H. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Browner, C. H. Articles by Preloran, H. M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Expectations, Emotions, and Medical Decision Making: A Case Study on the Use of Amniocentesis

H. Mabel Preloran

University of California, Los Angeles

The medical decision-making literature has paid scant attention to how prior expectations of patients and clinicians can influence medical encounters and affect patients’ choices whether to accept or reject medical testing or treatment. To illuminate the issue, we offer a reflexive analysis of the experiences of a Mexican-American couple offered amniocentesis based on the woman’s age and prior pregnancy history. We examine the impact of three principal factors: incongruity between expectations and reality for both patient and clinicians; the actors’ ethnic backgrounds; and the history and nature of relationship dynamics between the patient and her male partner. We conclude that unmet expectations on the part of both patient and clinicians evoked powerful emotions that altered the woman’s previous intention to agree to amniocentesis.

Key Words: amniocentesis • emotions • Latinos • medical decisions • reproductive health

Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 41, No. 4, 427-444 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1363461504045646


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?